DISENFRANCHISED NOT DISGRUNTLED

Good news. A former Party member in my patch has come back to the Labour fold following Blair's departure.And, yes, it IS good news. In the past couple of days various bloggers (Chris Paul and Luke Akehurst) have been having a go at left-wingers like Owen ( and eminently centre-left people like my good friend Peter Kenyon) for not bowing down in supplication to Gordon Brown. But just because we retain a critical distance is not to say there are no positives.
Yesterday's speech by Home Secretary Jacqui Smith was strikingly lacking in hyperbole about the "war on terror." Brown is brnging back Cabinet-style Govt ( it's just that no-one from the Left of the Party is anywhere near a senior Ministerial role) .His sober style is a welcome change.The no smoking policy (hurrah!) is another step forward which i absolutely agree with. But the underlying tone of thids Govt remains exactly the same as Blair's.
Look at the bunch selected to draw up policy on the manifesto. The list includes Patricia Hewitt, who will cover Europe; David Blunkett will focus on the voluntary sector; while "Rotweiler" Hilary Armstrong, formerly Chief Whip and Cabinet Office minister, will look at policy on children. Chris Bryant, who will lead discussions on constitutional reform, is most famed for advertising his sexual "allure" on the internet and signing the botched coup letter against Blair. A new dawn? Don't think so.....